A CAREER OF CRIME

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19845, 20 May 1927, Page 8

A CAREER OF CRIME

MRS. JOHNSTON’S LAPSE RELIGIOUS CONSOLATION IN GAOL [Per Press Association. I WELLINGTON, May 19. The ease of Airs Jane Ann Johnston was disposed of in the Supreme Court to-day when she was sentenced by Air Justice Alpers to two years’ imprisonment. The Court was crowded. Mr P. W. Jackson appeared for the prisoner and Mr Macassey for the Crown. The charges to which Mrs Johnston pleaded guilty, and on which she was sentenced were as follows: Breaking and entering F. W. Manton’s house at Northland and stealing jewellery to the value of £950; two charges of breaking and entering E. J. Hyman’s house at Kelburn and stealing articles of the total value of £113; breaking and entering Te Aro House with intent to steal and the theft of a califont from a house being built in Kelburn. When Airs Johnston, who plainly showing signs of stress, was placed in the dock. Mr Jackson said he desired to call evidence. The first witness was Dr. S. H. Arthur who said he had attended Airs Johnston in 1917 and in 1918, when she was in a private hospital suffering from a nervous breakdown. He had attended her since

then, but for nothing serious. From his knowledge of her he had formed the opinion that her temperament was always erratic. Evidence was also given by Dr. Daisy Platts-Mills. who said she had come into contact with the prisoner through the English-Speaking Union and other societies. Mrs Johnston had been very helpful on committees to which she had belonged and ■ she had been an excellent hostess at I various public functions. Witness said I she had known Mrs Johnston to have been a very devoted mother, and also in the event of a breakdown it would I be hard to tell in what direction her mind might lead her. His Honour said he would accept all that Dr. Platts-Mills had said that the woman had borne a good character be fore she embarked on her career of crime. That, in itself indicated a very great change. The Psychology of Crime C. E. McKenzie was giving evidence as to accused’s general reputation, when Mr Jackson asked if witness knew- the accused had had trouble with her husband. Mr Macassey objected to | the question, and his Honour said he had found that Mrs Johnston had been living apart from her husband, who paid her £3 a week and was paying for the education of the child, and also assisting in the education of a daughter of the first marriage. Financially, her ! husband could not be said to have [ been responsible for her career of crime. Mr Jackson said that they were endeavouring to find a solution to the problem. His Honour: The psychology of crime is an interesting subject, but this Court is concerned not with the psychlogy of crime but with the prei vention of it. j The witness McKenzie, continuing, ' said Mrs Johnston had taken to relig- | ion and had been in correspondence j with clergymen all over the world, and . had people praying for her on one oc- . casion. Mrs Johnston had told witness I she had received wonderful help and i was going to tour the country and | lecture on psychology ami prayer on ; account of the wonderful help she had I received. Addressing his Honour, Mr I Jackson said there had been no one • more ready and willing to help at all | times than the accused. She had been 1 associated with such societies as the I English-Speaking Union and the Com- ! munity Club, and had always done her i best freely and willingly. I His Honour: You will no doubt note from the police report that she was at ' one time engaged as a professional . fortune teller. Mr Jackson: Apparently that was i many years ago. Mr Jackson referred to the past good life of the pifsoner, and said that in a 1 sense in on© bound she had lapsed ' from her social position into the I prisoner’s dock. One could only sug- ! gest that at the time of the commission of the offences the prisoner was not normal and had lost control of herself to a certain extent. Counsel proceeded to trace the life history of the prisoner. “The Breaking-Point’’ His Honour remarked he was glad to assume that the prisoner had thoroughly deserved the reputation she had enjoyed. Mr Jackson: There must have been some cause for her lapse. His Honour: Is it very old fashioned to suggest that is is original sin? Each of us has a breaking-point and one cannot quite calculate where it is this unfortunate woman has had her breaking-point and she reached it. Counsel referred to the proceedings for separation taken by prisoner's husband, and said these had worried her and she had gone through a tremendous mental struggle.

His Honour: If you are going to ask me to believe that we can find a little relief in burglary, Mr Jackson, you are talking something perilously like nonsense. Addressing the accused, his Honour said: '‘Prisoner at the Bar. long before taking my seat on the Bench this morning I gave grave thought and consideration as to what was my duty to the public and to you. The reason is because your crime, in a sense, is verysad.’’ Prisoner’s counsel had referred to the religious element in her life and it was his hope she would return to that mental attitude, and that she would find in the ordeal which she was about to undergo consolation and help from religion. He would be doing wrong to the community if he should accede to the suggestion that probation be granted, because her crimes were num erous and indicated a fixed criminal tendency. The* crimes showed intellect, ability, and daring, and they stamped the prisoner on one side of her character as a dangerous criminal. There was another side however which made it one of those puzzling cases of human psychology, one of a double personality. “I take into consideration the state of your health.” he added, ‘‘and do not sentence you to a term of hard labour with imprisonment, although you will be able to find in prison avocations that will help yon, apart from a hard labour. The sentence of the Court is imprisonment for two vears on each charge th/* terms to be concurrent.”